These coconut eclairs are very elegant in looks and in taste. While the two coconut creams intensify the flavour, a little surprise of almond rounds it off. The craquelin and the honey tuile give the eclairs a delightful crunch.
Special material requirements
2 nozzles (I used Decora 865 & Silikomart Bx1405)
4 piping bags
Silicone lace mat
Perforated silicone mat (optional)
Heat gun (optional)
Laser thermometer (optional)
Recipe
Yield: 12-14 eclairs | Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
Coconut cream filling
170g heavy cream
60g white chocolate
80g powdered sugar
60g mascarpone (cold)
70g shredded coconut
Coconut whipped ganache
300g heavy cream
150g white chocolate
100g coconut puree (10% sugar)
1,5 gelatine sheets (gold)
Craquelin
50g butter (room temperature)
60g fine brown sugar
60g flour
Pâte à choux
60g water
60g milk
60g butter
60g flour
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
Almond praline paste
50g almonds (roasted)
50g sugar
2 tbsp water
1/8 tsp vanilla powder
pinch of salt
Honey tuile for decoration
40g butter (room temperature)
45g powdered sugar
40g honey
45g flour
1 medium egg white
pinch of salt
Directions
Coconut cream filling
Place the heavy cream and white chocolate in a bowl and microwave in impulses until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in between and make sure everything is well combined.
Cover the ganache with cling film to touch and leave in the fridge overnight.
Place the ganache, mascarpone and powdered sugar in a stand mixer and whip it up to medium-stiff peaks.
Add the shredded coconut and fold it into the cream with a spatula.
Place the cream into a piping bag and let it rest in the fridge if not used immediately.
Coconut whipped ganache
Fill a bowl with cold water and place the gelatine leaves inside to soak.
Place the heavy cream, white chocolate and coconut puree in a bowl and microwave in impulses until all is completely melted. Stir in between and make sure everything is well combined.
While the ganache mixture is still hot from the microwave, squeeze the excess water from the soaked gelatine leaves and place them in the cream mixture. Stir continuously until all gelatine is dissolved and well combined with the cream mixture.
Cover the ganache with cling film to touch and leave in the fridge overnight.
Place the cold ganache in a bowl of a stand mixer and whip it to medium peaks. Do not overwhip the mixture or the texture will not be as smooth.
Place the whipped ganache in a piping bag with a petal piping tip (I used Silikomart Bx1405)
After some time, the cream may get warm from your hands, just place it in the fridge for a little while and pipe again.
Craquelin
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix together until well combined.
Thinly roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper.
Place the dough in the freezer until ready to use.
Pâte à choux
Place the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat while constantly stirring.
When the liquid starts to boil, add the flour and stir until well combined. Keep stirring the dough until you have a matte film at the bottom of your saucepan.
Place the dough in a bowl of a stand mixer and whisk with the paddle attachment to cool it down to around 50°C or until there is no more steam coming up.
Break up the two eggs with an immersion blender or a fork and slowly add little by little to the dough, while still whisking. Make sure the dough has incorporated all of the egg before you add more of it.
Place the dough in a small bowl and cover with cling film to touch. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Transfer the dough into a piping bag with a french star nozzle (I used Decora 865).
Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Pipe the choux dough in a straight line, about 12cm long, preferably on a perforated silicone mat. If you don't have that, pipe it on baking paper.
Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut rectangles that measure approximately 12 x 2.7cm and place them on top of the piped choux dough.
Bake the eclairs for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. While the craquelin is not in use, place it back in the freezer.
Almond praline paste
Place sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as you get a caramel colour pour the caramelised sugar onto baking paper or a silicone mat and let it cool completely. Make sure not to burn the sugar, otherwise it will become bitter.
As soon as the caramel has cooled down and become hard, break it into small pieces and place it in a blender together with the almonds.
Blend the nuts and caramel in a food processor in impulses, while scraping down the sides and the bottom in between, until you get a liquid paste. It is important to blend in short impulses because otherwise the praline paste will heat up and become bitter.
Mix in the salt and vanilla powder, blend once more.
Transfer into a piping bag.
Honey tuile for decoration
Combine the butter, powdered sugar and honey in a bowl and whisk until combined and smooth.
Add the egg white and whisk until fully combined, then add flour and salt. Mix until you have a homogenous dough.
Spread the dough over your lace mat, approx. 12cm in length, and scrape the excess off with a spatula for example.
Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 5 minutes.
Let the tuile cool for about 30 seconds, then gently unmold while it's still soft but strong. If you unmold it immediately it will tear because it will be too hot and soft. If you unmold it too late it will be hard and break quickly. After unmolding the tuile, immediately place it on a flat surface to harden.
If the tuile hardens while you unmold it and thus is bent, you can flatten the tuile by reheating it again and then letting it cool on a flat surface. You can do that by either using a heat gun or placing the tuile back in the oven for 30-60 seconds.
Assembly
Cut out a thin rectangle on top and along your eclair. I like to keep the cutouts and place them back after the filling but that is not necessary.
Fill the bottom and the sides of the eclair with the coconut cream filling and leave a little gap in the middle.
Pipe some almond praline paste in the middle of the eclair and cover the top with more coconut cream filling. If you kept your cutouts, place them back on the eclair.
Pipe the coconut whipped ganache on top of the eclair in the form of a V from top to bottom.
Place the tuile on top of the piped ganache.
Notes
Coconut cream filling: prepare step 1 and 2 one day in advance.
Coconut whipped ganache: prepare step 1 to 4 one day in advance.
Pâte à choux: when you pipe your eclair and you see there are a lot of air pockets, scrape the dough down, put it back into the piping bag an repipe. Air pockets deform your eclair while baking.
Honey tuile: most lace mats are rather large. I would recommend measuring out how wide and long you want your tuile to be and spread the dough not more than those measurements. It will be harder to cut the tuile in proper size after its baked since it will be very delicate and may break quickly. My tuile is 2.5cm wide and 12cm long
Honey tuile: try to prepare them as close to serving as possible since they absorb moisture quickly and then become soft and bendable. Depending on the moisture of your air it may stay crispy for a day or only couple of hours. Also only place them on the eclair shortly before serving since the tuile will also absorb the moisture of the cream.